Cronky

Yep. He was the best we've had. Those years when we were in the top four under him were the most enjoyable of my time as a supporter. Alas, we didn't know what we had till it was gone.

Probably another buy and loan back. Looks good though.

Can we not just wait till the accounts are out?

I think it's pretty clear they don't want Carver, and are hoping to avoid asking him to do a caretaker job till the end of the season. It might just come to that though.

Judging from that interview it looks like it definitely won't be Carver long-term. But they haven't yet hit on someone who they want and who is also available now.

Interesting. Why would he stay back and be watching the stiffs? Weren't there supposed to be 'personal reasons' behind his missing the Dubai trip?

If this is true, my best guess is that Garde has set his terms, and the club have this period to respond. The terms might well be his taking over at the end of the season, with his own staff. Trouble is, that option looks difficult for the club in the interim, given the way that Carver has carried on.

Surely the manager decides before the game who should take penalties, and the players should stick with it. It amazes me when I see professionals grab hold of the ball and argue like kids over who should get the chance. In other sports, the captain should intervene in that situation, but captains in football don't seem to have that kind of authority.

I suspect this is the sticking point. I don't think they want Carver so my guess is that they're looking for a third candidate.

Curbishley, anyone? An unjustly neglected talent IMO.

He seemed to be hinting that he actually would turn it down. That may just be him applying pressure to Charnley, but overall it doesn't help the situation. I know the bloke passionately wants the job, but he really hasn't handled the situation well.

Personally I think his acceleration is his chief asset. I agree. He can get past people, but he's equally likely to lose the ball cheaply. It's all a bit random because his touch on the ball isn't that great.

He's as good as called time on it himself. We have to appoint someone now. If Carver can't motivate himself to keep battling he's not going to be able to inspire his players.

It wasn't a very impressive interview. He seems way too emotional to handle the pressure of that kind of job.

Hopefully it was just ring-rust that led to that goal, and he'll be back to his best soon. The goal was a real body blow and changed the game completely.

The defending was terrible in the first half. The midfield didn't seem to know whether to close down or hold their position, and did neither. The midfield defended with more spirit and decisiveness in the second half, but we look quite weak now at centre back. For an experienced centre back, Colo's confidence often looks very brittle, and that can't help the rest of the back four.

Sky only seem interested in one team. We're just they're to make up the numbers.

Very pleased to see that Schneirderlin and Wanyama aren't playing. I fancy our chances without them.

After such a long and distinguished career in the field of Football Administration, he seems ideally qualified for the job.

I don’t think Carver has behaved particularly well here. It’s okay to say you’d be interested in the job and leave it at that, but all this very public touting and using Jose as an applicant reference is making the situation more awkward for the club, in terms of managing the succession. He might be thinking that it’s smart to use what power he has in this way, but I don’t think it’ll impress the people he needs to impress.

Yep. For me it's a matter of eliminating the unfeasible and seeing what's left. I don't think we'd be able to get Lyon's backroom staff now, and as you say, Garde attempting to work with coaching staff who would basically be dead men walking would be very difficult. There's a possibility that the club are still looking for another option ie a manager who would be prepared to come in now and work with the current staff, at least until he'd be able to assess whether or not that was working.

The most likely explanation IMO is that Garde would like to come, but wants to wait until the end of the season, when he can bring in the backroom staff that he wants. They're not likely to want to leave Lyon in the middle of the season, and Lyon are unlikely to want to let them go at this point. I'm not sure if it would be wise to pressure Garde to join up now, into a situation which he is saying is not satisfactory to him. The club could ask Carver to stay on till the end of the season, but that would be awkward as Carver has made it clear he wants the permanent job. They could tell him that if he does well, the job will be his, but then that could potentially rule out Garde and other possible candidates in June. As for the other candidates that they are supposed to be interviewing, I suspect that the best that could be hoped for is that they're prepared to consider the job at the end of the season. Hence the limbo. I suspect the least worst option is to have Carver on a trial basis till the end of the season, and then review the situation then.

If Ferguson couldn't sort this lad out, I don't fancy our chances.

This. Starting to think Messi needs to move for his own sake tbh. Yeah, could be. He's been there a long time and he might need a fresh challenge. He's already achieved all he can with Barca.